Star Wars 30th Anniversary Special - part 5

One of my favorite moments in "Star Wars", when I first saw it, was the holochess game, and the exchange about droids not pulling people's arms out of their sockets when they lose, wookiees are known to do that.

At the time, the little creatures on the game board fascinated me and I'd always wanted a better look at them. I'd also hoped that Kenner would make some sort of board game based on this scene, but they never did.

The holomonsters were stop-motion animated by Phil Tippet, and allegedly were made of paier-mache, though my experience with papier-mache makes this seem difficult to unlikely at best. I'd guess they were most likely latex rubber over simple wire armatures.

Anyway, the game turns out to be called dejarik, and the little holomonsters are based on creatures both real and mythological in the Star Wars universe.

Here are the little holomonsters and their names.



1. Ghhhk

2. K'lor'slug

3. Kintan Strider (Chewie's bad move)

4. Ng'ok

5. Houjix

6. Monnok

7. Grimtaash or Molator

8. Mantellian Savrip (R2-D2's controversial move)

I recall that in an episode of "Jason of Star Command" there was a stop motion creature which looked a lot like teh Mantellian Savrip.

Star Wars 30th Anniversary Special - part 4

I remember the first time I saw "Star Wars" I got a chill in that pause between "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." followed by that first trumpet blare as the opening fanfare came in accompanying the movie title outlined in yellow as it fell against the distance.

Then after the Flash Gordon inspired opening crawl, one of those cinematic moments that the big, wide screen is made for, as the rebel blockade runner "Tantive IV" shoots from overhead, behind the audience, towards distant Tatooine, pursued by another ship which seemed to come on forever, the Imperial star destroyer. I was won over at that very moment, my sense of awe and wonder completely activated.






Though the scale was hardly as impressive, here's the die-cast star destroyer I picked up in 1979, complete with the captured blockade runner tucked in underneath. I actually began buliding a three foot model from scratch, using a corrugated cardboard from covered with odd bits of model kits, much like I read the actual model builders on the movie did. The project was abandoned once I realized I didn't have enough small convincing pieces to use, and couldn't justify buying perfectly good battleship, tank, truck and airplane model kits, just to cannibalize them for my star destroyer.

Gordon Scott 1926-2007

Gordon Scott, who portrayed an intelligent, articulate, Tarzan in five movies beginning with "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle" in 1955, then went on to a successful career starring in a series of gladiator movies, has died at age 80.

Star Wars 30th Anniversary Special - part 3

When "Star Wars" was first released, the scene where Jabba the Hutt confronts Han Solo outside the Millenium Flacon was not included. The scene, filmed with actor Declan Mulholland standing in for what was later be a stop-motion animated creature that would be Jabba, was not completed due to budgetary restraints. The scene would later be completed using cgi for the "Special Edition" 20 years later.

Of course, back in 1977, we didn't know all this. The footage with Declan Mulholland would not be scene until making-of documenatries for "Return of the Jedi" started airing on television in 1983. Instead, all we knew of Jabba the Hutt was what we were able to gleam from the conversation between Han Solo and Greedo in the cantina. As to what he looked like that was a mystery open to speculation. The novel described him as a "great mobile tub of muscle and suet topped by a shaggy scarred skull" which wasn't much help.




When Marvel Comics published their adaptation of the movie, Jabba appeared as a yellow-walrus like alien, which I thought looked pretty cool. (Note the blue alien which we would all know and love as "Snaggletooth" who will be the subject of a future entry here) This is how Jabba would appear in the comics until "Return of the Jedi" when his appearance changed to the big slug without any explanation or revision. This is how I imagined Jabba.




The design was actually based on a background character which can be seen briefly crossing the screen on the streets of Mos Eisley after Luke and Ben Kenobi leave the cantina. This alien has subsequently been identified as a Nimbanese named Mosep, who is actually an accountant for Jabba the Hutt. I actually find this expanded universe cataloguing of every character that appeared in the movie as limiting. The 11-year old me who saw this movie felt that the unspoken possibility of backgrounds and occupations of all of these weird characters to be a strength of the experience. Telling me this guy was Jabba's accountant, is like taxidermying the poor guy. His alienness has been removed. I'd sure like an action figure of him, though.

Star Wars 30th Anniversary Special - part 2

I don't know where this publicity photo came from, but I've had it since at least 1978, before the "Star Wars Holiday Special" aired on tv. It's not all that remarkable an image, except for the fact that this was the first time that I'd ever seen one of the Stormtroopers without their helmet. That really captured me. Even though I realize that it's just the head of the actor wearing the costume, I'd been wondering what the stormtroopers looked like under their helmets. Were they even human? This, at least for my young self, answered that mystery.

Star Wars 30th Anniversary Special - part 1

I just couldn't resist this.

On May 25th, "Star Wars," or what everyone now calls "Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope" will be thirty years old. This movie had a tremendous impact on myself and countless others. Back in the pre-VCR summer of 1977, I went back to the movie theater again and again with anyone who would go, and often by myself, shelling out my $2.25 per ticket to see this movie at least 25 times that first summer alone.

I knew I wanted to something fun all month long to celebrate, but with previous mentioned looming, and very tight deadlines, coupled with the fact that the bulk of my embarassingly large Star Wars collection is in storage 800 miles away from me, I was about to drop it, putting up a single post on the anniversary itself.

Then along comes like-minded compatriot, Todd Franklin of Neatocoolville, who began posting his own daily celebration of 30 years of "Star Wars" with a daily trading card from the original series, the original People magazine article, etc. Initially, I was glad that Todd was doing it. I could live vicariously through his posts, knowing he'd do a superlative job, as always, but then this nagging part of my brain reminded me of how much fun last Halloween was, mainly because of Todd and a few others, who created well done daily Halloween themed posts, that when assembled, formed an extension of each other, showing just how the virtual world can become a community of like-minded fools. I wasn't about to wait until next October for this thematic cameraderie to return, nor was I about to let Todd have all the fun.

I figured that even without the bulk of my collection available, and with the other demands on my time, I could still pull something together to scan and post on a daily basis.

Here, for the first entry, is appropriately, one of the earliest images that Ralph McQuarrie created as a visual aid for selling "Star Wars" to a movie studio. From left to right: Han Solo, the female Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 while above them Y-Wing fighters arc towards the Death Star.

Fun With Scissors - part 119

Unfortunately, due to a batch of very tight deadlines I will be facing for the next couple of months, I will be putting "Fun With Scissors" on a short hiatus. I hope to have it up and running sometime in early July with a mix of popular and obscure cartoon characters ranging from Foghorn Leghorn to the Grape Ape. I think that by this point I've posted around 126 characters, and am still amazed at how I've barely scratched the surface.

In the meantime, I don't plan to leave this site stagnant. I still plan to put up the occassional post as long as it only involves my scanning something.

If there are any characters you are interested in seeing, feel free to post your requests here.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett 1938-2007

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a pretty extensive collection of Halloween and monster related songs (over 30 hours worth), so I was saddened to hear the news this week that Bobby "Boris" Pickett (on the right, with iconic horror host, John Zacherley at a recent Chiller Theatre Convention, in this photo from the "2007 Scary Monsters Yearbook as taken by Arnie Degeantano) the man who brought us "The Monster Mash" died last Wednesday from leukemia.

"The Monster Mash" remains the cream of the crop of spooky-themed songs, a very large number of which imitated it.

Pickett's music, and other merchandise, can be purchased through his website. In 2005 he changed the lyrics to his iconic song into an environmental wake-up song that is highly critical of the Bush administration. The video for this song can be seen here.

Illustration Friday - "Fortune"

Designed as a large thumbnail for the "business" category of the Shaman Drum Bookshop website, I thought this recent collage of mine seemed perfect for this week's topic at Illustration Friday.

Fun With Scissors - part 118

Here's Meteor Man of "The Galaxy Trio."

Envelope Art

Here's a quick sketch I did of Karloff as "the Mummy" on an envelope mailed off to a 6-year old monster fan that I know.

Superman's Pal - part 12

I'm concluding the run of Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane posts with these two 80-Page Giant issues of "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen," as these are the last two covers I have available which are not in storage. I also have some equally goofy issues of various other DC titles from the same era which I will post at some point in the future.

I thank you all, whether you chose to remain silent, or whether you commented here, or privately via email, for dropping by. I especially would like to thank my longtime "Scooby-Doo" collaborator, and Bob Oskner fan, Robert Pope, for his frequent comments.

I did receive an email which asked what all this Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane stuff had to do with my work, and why wasn't I using my blog to talk more about myself and my work. Valid question, though I think my enthusiasm for "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" and "Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane" speaks volumes about myself and my work.

At any rate, I will set about doing just that. Aside from plugging new and upcoming projects, I will set about tackling a labor intensive task regarding my prior work. I've been asked pretty regularly about, not only influences, but more specifically references made in my various comic book work. I thought it might be fun, and educational, to look through some of my work and talk about some of the references and "in-jokes" that I've dropped in along the way. I don't know with what frequency I'll be posting these nuggets of information, but look for the first one in about two weeks time.

in the meantime, more monkey business as usual.

Superman's Girl Friend - part 5

At this point, poor Lois, not only has to share her comic with Rose and the Thorn, but she no longer has all those silly covers. Check out that fashion sense though.

Superman's Pal - part 11

As much as I love Jack Kirby, these later issues of "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" with the newsboy legion weren't nearly as fun. Don Rickles of the cover is no substitute for a gorilla, or Jimmy Olsen: crooner.

Spot Illustrations

Between other jobs, I've been creating illustrations for the Shaman Drum Bookshop's website. These images are meant to illustrate a number of categories of books which they sell. Figuring out what single image best depicts a topic as broad as, say, "history," is a real challenge. You want something that's iconic, but without being too cliched, which is hard enough, but more difficult is choosing something that is discernable at the small 160 pixels x 200 pixels size that is required, while suggesting the category that it accompanies.

Because of their small size, I've tried to keep the images simple. there's not a lot of detail in any of them, and they aren't really meant to be viewed any bigger than the small thumbnail size indicated.

At this point, I think I've still done less than half of them, but if you're interested in seeing what's there, then go to this page, then arrow down where it says "browse by categories, on the right hand side of the screen. Click on the various categories. The images, such as the one depicted here for "Michigan and the Great Lakes" can be seen on the right side of each category page.

While you are there, why not pick up some choice reading for yourself.

Fun With Scissors - part 117

Here's the train conductor from the "Conjunction Junction" what's your function? episode of "School House Rock."

Superman's Pal - part 10

Villainy abounds. I really love the completely wacky premise on the top cover. "Planet of the Capes." I can tell you what would happen if you tried pitching a story like that nowadays.

Superman's Girl Friend - part 4

Romantic troubles and a turn to crime for Lois. In "Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane" #64, she also meets a master of disguise who demonstrates his abilities by transforming himself into Dean Martin, Cary Grant, Ernest Borgnine, and Lyndon B. Johnson --all in two panels!

Superman's Pal - part 9

Jimmy Olsen: Angry Young Man.

Got to love the hippie freak out cover.

Superman's Pal - part 8

Is there nothing Jimmy can't do? Along with his stretch as Elastic Lad, Superman's Pal has taken on several other super-identities, and unlike those sissies in the Justice League, he doesn't hide behind a secret identity. Go, Jimmy, Go!

Superman's Girl Friend - part 3

More woes for Lois.

The bottom cover is one of my favorite covers of all time. It's even better because it's in Spanish.